At Long Last
by Nikkitaa
Summary: They'd waited years for this without really even realizing it. He had asked, she had always refused, and it just never seemed to be possible, until now. S/J end of threads...


_**A/N; i own nothing...blah blah blah**_

They'd waited years for this without really even realizing it. He had asked, she had always refused, and it just never seemed to be possible, until now. With everything that had happened he probably would have made it an order had she again refused, but thankfully it had not come to that and he was pleasantly surprised.

And so here they sat, after eight long years and an especially trying week. The sadness and grief that had enveloped her for the last week replaced with a peaceful smile, something he had missed seeing on her beautiful face. Especially those signature Carter smiles, that lit up her face, making her eyes sparkle and the whole room just a little bit brighter.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of her voice.

"This is great" she said, glancing in his direction as he cast his line again. " I can't believe we didn't do this years ago."

"Yes well, let's not dwell" Jack said, glad that she was enjoying herself.

He watched as she silently reeled in her line, swung it gracefully over her shoulder and released it once more. He was glad she was here, this was one of the moments that he would cherish forever, even long after she was married to Pete and gone from him forever.

There was no denying that he was still rather bitter on the subject of Pete, but he had decided that it was no longer going to be a barrier between himself and Carter.

If friends was all he ever got, friends was what he would take. If she was happy, he would be happy for her.

"So…" he began, curious but not entirely sure he really wanted to breech the subject.

"So…?" she replied

"Pete didn't mind my dragging you away from reality for the weekend?" he asked, against his better judgment, coming to the conclusion that he was gluten for punishment.

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat "About that…" she started

"Forget it." He said apologetically "It's none of my business Carter."

He had used the line before, and though he did not what to pry, he knew that he did not sound convincing this time either.

"No, sir it's fine" she said "I broke it off"

"Huh?" was all he managed to say, not entirely sure that he had heard her correctly

She giggled at what was obviously a dumbfounded look on his face. "I told you, the closer it got the more I realized I was making a huge mistake. I was using him, trying to forget and bury things, and it wasn't fair"

He just sat there, stunned into silence. He had hoped for this, but never dared dream it would actually happen. His face was composed but on the inside he was jumping for joy. She continued

"But what I didn't get the chance to tell you was that as much as I cared for Pete, there was someone else, has been for quite some time. Only, a long time ago I promised them that my feeling would remain locked away in the room that had drawn them out, along with his, and that it would never be a problem."

"Carter, I…" he began, but she cut him off

"No let me finish." she said "At the time I thought I could do it, I really did. I thought I'd be able to forget about all of it and just move on, but I found out very quickly that that was not the case. I tried to reason with myself, to tell myself that it was wrong and that I needed to forget about it, but I couldn't. Every time we went off world, every time something went wrong, every time one of us came so close to dying, it got harder."

She paused, looking straight into his eyes, trying desperately to make him understand "The day we lost Janet was the day I lost my resolve. When you almost died, right before my eyes, I thought my world was going to collapse. It felt like my heart had been torn in two, and it was more then I could handle. Later, when I knew you were alright, I had never been more relieved and terrified in my life. I knew that those feelings were never going to go away and knowing that I couldn't do anything about them was driving me crazy. That's were Pete came in, he was a distraction, nothing more, and it worked, for a while. But after a while I knew I had gotten in too deep and I just had to get out, before it was too late."

She lapsed into silence, not entirely able to believe that she had once again found herself divulging way more then she had originally intended. That seemed to happen a lot around Jack. Sometimes a mere glance gave her away and he seemed to know exactly what she was thinking.

It seemed that they only time he didn't know exactly what was going on with her was when it concerned him. He had truly believed that she had fallen in love with Pete, that he really did make her happy. Knowing that it was all an attempt to distract herself form who she really wanted, from HIM, had his heart soaring and his mind reeling.

"Carter.." he began again, only to have her cut in again.

"You don't have to say anything sir." She said sadly "I know that nothing has changed, and I know I am still under your command, but there is something else you need to know."

He laughed inside, knowing that what he needed to say would ease her worrying, had she allowed him to finish a sentence. Instead he played into her little speech.

"Oh?" he asked

"I'm putting in for a transfer to Area 51" she said

Seems great minds think a like "Carter that's…" he started to say but she made to cut him off again. "For crying out loud Carter let me finish!"

She giggled again "Sorry Sir"

"What I was going to say was that it's your choice but it's not necessary." He said simply

Instantly she looked dejected, and he went on quickly realizing how that must have sounded to her.

"I'm transferring to Home World Security, Hammond is retiring and I'm taking his place. In about a week you will no longer be under my command. Actually seeing as all the paper work has really already been processed, technically you are no longer under my command as off an hour ago."

"Oh" she said, the realization of his implication settling in.

"Yep." He said with a smirk "And to commemorate this special occasion, there is something I need you to know."

"What's that?" she asked

"I love you. Have for a good long while, but you see I made that same stupid promise and …"

Suddenly her lips were on his, cutting off the rest of his sentence. At first he was startled, he hadn't seen that coming, at least not that quickly, but he sure as hell was not going to complain. When they finally broke apart they were both breathing rather heavily.

"I love you too Jack." She said, knowing that life was going to be much better now.

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**A/N: So, im torn. I can't decide if i want to make this into a full out story or keep it as a oneshot..... What do you all think? **

**Review and let me know what you think it and whether or not to make it longer.**


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